Forever and Always
by Geek Without Glasses
Summary: "Clarisse, I was thinking. We've been together for three years, and" He knelt down on one knee, and her heart did somersaults." Written for PJO Ship Weeks 2014.


**Just a little review on the ship weeks:**

**June 29 to July 5: Paul and Sally**

**July 6 to July 12: Tyson and Ella**

**July 13 to July 19: Grover and Juniper**

**July 20 to July 26: Charles and Silena**

**July 27 to August 2: Luke and Thalia**

**August 3 to August 9: Free Week**

**August 10 to August 16: Free Slash Week**

**August 17 to August 23: Free Friendship Week**

**August 24 to August 30: Chris and Clarisse**

**August 31 to September 6: Jason and Reyna**

**September 7 to September 13: Jason and Piper**

**September 14 to September 20: Frank and Hazel**

**September 21 to September 27: Leo and Calypso**

**September 28 to October 4: Percy and Annabeth**

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**AN: So, this is like, a day late, but it's better now than never. **

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**Disclaimer: I don't own any characters, Happy Meals, snow globes, park benches, or magic swords.**

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**Forever and Always**

* * *

It was just another post Giant War day at Camp Half Blood. The Hermes kids were pranking, cabin seven was singing (off key, like always, although no one dared to tell them that), the Aphrodite campers were sitting by the lake, gossiping, and Clarisse La Rue was taking out her anger on the training dummies.

She did that all the time now, ever since the final battle of the war. She was mad, no, furious at herself because she'd been knocked out by a giant's club at the beginning of the fight. Of course, it wasn't her fault, she'd been occupied by a rogue cyclops at the time, but she always ignored whoever told her this.

Chris had been wanting to talk to her since breakfast that morning, but his schedule hadn't permitted him to meet up with her until now.

Upon entering the arena, he did a quick once over of the building, and spotted her immediately, alone in the far corner. He jogged over to Clarisse immediately, wrapping his arms around her waist, even though he knew just how much she hated any form of public affection.

"Hey Reese." He whispered in her ear

"Don't call me that, and get your hands off of me." Yup, normal Clarisse behaviour

He removed his arms, and asked her the question he'd been waiting hours to ask. "I was just wondering, do you wanna go on a walk in the woods?"

"No. I'm training."

"You've been training for two straight weeks!"

"Well, I'm not going."

"Please," Chris begged, giving her his puppy dog eyes "We've barely seen each other lately."

"Well, I'm busy."

"Well, I'm not." With that, he grabbed her wrist and dragged her out of the arena. She could've broken free easily, but, for some reason, she didn't.

Chris let go of her as soon as they were out of the arena, and the couple headed towards the woods, the place that offered the most privacy inside of camp. Once they were completely hidden from the prying eyes of nosy demigods, Chris took Clarisse's hand in his, and held on tight.

"Clarisse, I was thinking. We've been together for three years, and" He knelt down on one knee, and her heart did somersaults. Was he really doing this now? She thought Was this why he'd wanted to talk to her so badly, because he wanted to ask if she wanted to marry him.

And he tied his shoelace. Chris must've seen the look she was giving him, because he asked, "Did someone draw on my face again."

"No, never mind. What were you about to say?"

"Oh yeah, well I was thinking. We've been together for three years, and I've never taken you out on a real date, like, outside of camp. I asked Chiron about it, and he said we could borrow one of the camp vans tomorrow and go into Manhattan."

Now that she thought about it, Clarisse realized they'd never been on a real date. "All right, it'll be nice to get away for a while."

"Great, because I already made reservations at the Ritz Carlton."

"Christopher Rodriguez, you wouldn't dare!"

He gave her his signature Hermes grin, the one that secretly made her heart melt. "You're right, I figured we'd just get burgers or something."

"Are you saying you want a Happy Meal without actually saying it?"

"Mayb- how do you know I like Happy Meals?"

"Travis."

"I'll kill him."

"I think the entire camp would thank you, especially the Demeter kids."

He began to say something, no doubt a snide remark to her statement, but at that moment, the conch hone blew in the distance, signally dinner, and the end of their short moment of privacy. Chris leaned in to give Clarisse a quick peck on the lips, and offered her a hand up, which she blatantly refused.

They walked back to the central green in a comfortable silence, and said quick goodbyes as they left to be with their own cabins.

* * *

The next morning dawned bright and sunny, not a cloud in the sky. Clarisse awoke before any of her siblings, and got dressed immediately. She was about to put on her usual outfit, an old camp shirt and a pair of worn out, loose jeans, before she remembered what today was.

After rifling through not only her own trunk, but two of her sisters', Clarisse managed to find a white tank top, red button up cardigan, and a pair of dark blue skinny jeans, all that fit her just right, unlike the oversized clothes she normally wore. She brushed her hair, and decided against putting it in her normal bandana, instead, letting it hang loose around her shoulders.

Eight o'clock, the time she was supposed to meet Chris, rolled by all too slowly, ADHD definitely didn't help. But by seven fifty, she'd had enough. Quiet as a mouse, Clarisse snuck out of her cabin and walked towards the Big House.

He was waiting. For once, he'd made it somewhere before her. Chris was many things, but he was never, ever, on time, much less early.

"Hey." He greeted casually

"Morning." She answered "You're up early, I didn't think you liked getting out of bed any time before noon."

He rolled his eyes "So, I've got the keys, where do you wanna go?" He jiggled the keys in his hand for extra effect

"How about we just get to Manhattan and decide from there?"

So they went into the Big House's garage (which, until then, Clarisse hadn't even known existed), and pointed the fob at random vans, none of which unlocked.

"Are you sure Chiron gave you the right keys?" Clarisse asked "We've tried them on every van in here, and none of them work."

"I don't think Chiron would give us the wrong keys." Chris responded "But..."

Whatever he was about to say was cut off. There was a sharp beep, and the sound of a car door unlocking.

"Gods," He shouted "Reese, Chiron gave us the keys to a freaking Maserati!"

She ran over, and, sure enough, sitting right in front of her was a silver Maserati. She didn't know much about cars, but she knew enough to wonder how the Hades Chiron had gotten the money to buy this.

Chris was still staring at the car as though he were a five year old looking at his presents under the Christmas tree. She climbed in the passengers side, and waited for him to take the wheel. But he still hadn't touched the car, instead, he just stared at it, apparently dumbfounded.

"Are you coming or not?" Clarisse yelled "We haven't got all day."

Apparently, that was enough to shake him out of his daze. He opened the door, climbed into the driver's seat, and started the engine, driving smoothly out of the garage.

"You know," Chris said after about twenty minutes of comfortable silence "I would've thought you'd have wanted to drive."

"I'm not all that good a driver." She admitted "Driving in the desert and driving in New York are two very different things. I mean, there's like, no other cars in Arizona, at least if you're on the back roads, and the cops are nothing compared to the amount here."

"What do you mean by "you're not a very good driver?""

"Well, it's not that I'm not a good driver, it's just that I can't drive anything under a hundred."

Chris nearly did a spit take with the pop he was drinking. "Miles per hour?" He asked uncertainly

"Yeah."

"How have you never gotten arrested?"

"Like I said, the area my mom lives in has a lot of deserted back roads."

They made small talk the rest of the way, talking about life at home. They'd never really seen a reason to ask each other these questions before, but now seemed like the perfect time.

"So, let's get these straight." Chris said in a half serious tone "Your mom's filthy rich, barely knows you exist, and brings home a new boyfriend almost every week."

"Sounds about right."

"Now I get why you stay year round."

"What about you?"

"My mom died when I was ten. She was the polar opposite of yours, she was, like, the best person in the world, and always made awesome brownies. Anyway, a satyr took me to Camp, but my sister was only three, he said she was too young to go. Apparently she got taken to a foster home, but I haven't seen her since."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know." Clarisse told him, pity was not something she did, so it was kinda awkward on her part. "What was her name, your sister?"

"Mary."

Alarm bells went off in her head immediately. Chris must've noticed, because he looked at her strangely.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. It's just that, while you were, uh, crazy, you kept calling me Mary."

"Oh." There was a sorrowful tone in his voice now

They continued the drive in silence.

* * *

Eventually, they arrived at the Brooklyn Bridge. Surprisingly, the rush hour traffic wasn't terrible, the line for the toll station only took about twenty minutes.

As they were driving across, Chris broke the silence "Look at that scorch mark on the road." Clarisse saw it, and, seeing the look on her face he said "Travis told me they used Greek fire here in the Titan War, that's probably from it." Of course, neither of them had been in Manhattan at that point in the war, but they didn't bother pointing that out.

"So, where should we go?" He asked as they drove down Park Avenue

Clarisse was attempting to read a map of the city that she'd found in the glove compartment. But judging by the fact she was holding it upside down, Chris didn't think she was having any luck.

"There's a Dunkin' Donuts on Fifty Second."

"We passed Fifty Second, like, five minutes ago. I, uh, think you're reading it upside down."

"Oh." Her face turned a light shade of red "Turn left!" She shouted it so suddenly that Chris ended up swerving through three lanes of traffic, who all honked impatiently at him.

"There's a diner right..." She hesitated a moment, then pointed out the windshield "there."

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Luckily, it was only eleven, so the diner still had it's breakfast menu out. The waitress, a girl probably in her early twenties with a name tag that read something that looked like Rebecca, tried to flirt with Chris, causing Clarisse to tense up. But, after they'd ordered their drinks, and she was walking away, he leaned over the table and kissed Clarisse. Smiling, apparently pleased with himself, he stuck his tongue out towards the direction she'd gone with their orders, and, turning around, Clarisse saw that she'd been staring at them the entire time.

"What are you getting?" Clarisse asked Chris after a few minutes of staring at their menus

"I think I'm gonna get the Sunday Special."

"But that says it serves five."

"So?"

"It comes with five eggs, three pounds of bacon, twenty reindeer sausages, and ten pieces of toast."

"Don't forget the limited edition collectible snow globe."

"You're impossible."

Rebecca came back, coffees in hand, no longer with a flirty smile on her face. "Have you decided on your order yet?" She asked in a bored voice

"The Sunday Special."

"You're aware that serves five?"

"Yes."

"And you?" She asked, looking at Clarisse with a look of pure loathing

"I'll just share with him."

The food arrived faster than they'd expected, and within an hour they were heading back out to the car, Chris with his newly acquired snow globe in hand.

"Where to next?" He asked in a mock British accent

"I don't know, I sorta figured you'd have a plan."

They ended up cruising around New York, without a thought as to where they were going, getting lost on side streets, and stuck in traffic. Afternoon came and went, and evening rolled by all too quickly.

"I'm hungry." Chris complained

"How in Zeus's name are you hungry, you just ate enough to feed four people a few hours ago!"

He caught sight of the big yellow arches up ahead, and gazed longingly at them. Knowing what he was thinking, Clarisse intervened.

"We are not going to McDonalds."

"Wanna go to Central Park, aren't there usually hot dog carts and stuff there?"

By the time they found a spot to park, and a hot dog cart, the sun was already setting below the trees.

"Did Chiron say when we had to be back?"

"Nope." Chris answered, popping the p "We can stay as long as we want."

Walking around Central Park, in relative silence, making occasional small talk, Clarisse noticed she was having the best time she'd had in a very long time. And when they took a seat on a park bench, wrapped in each other's arms, with no one else around to see, Clarisse found herself wishing she could frame this moment and live in it forever, because he was hers, and she was his, and she hoped, it would be that way, forever and always.


End file.
